Hey, CtC friends!
Pastor Mike here from the CtC team. God recently blessed CtC member Dan Schoeffel and me with a great opportunity to share the message about God's love for sexual sinners to the students/faculty at both Martin Luther College and Bethany Lutheran College. Here are a few highlights you might be interested in:
Porn doesn't discriminate - As always, I was reminded Christians need help with porn. It finds its way onto Christian campuses and into Christian minds. So many people love Jesus, love the Bible, and love the church, yet still struggle with the porn that Jesus hates.
Safety starts crucial conversations - One of our core values at CtC is "Safety First." We believe that few, if any, people conquer porn until they confess to others, but that few, if any, people confess to others unless they know it's safe. Both groups of college students flooded my cell with questions once they knew it was safe to ask.
Dealing with the "Yuck!" Factor - The most common questions I received came from struggling people who were scared of asking for help and hurting people who were trying to get over the anger of finding out about their partner's porn. The Holy Spirit opened my eyes to this truth-Until we all realize we can't turn off sin like a light switch, we will never have compassion to help each other. In other words, the girl who doesn't struggle with porn will be too judgmental, too disgusted, and too quick to anger with her struggling boyfriend unless she realizes that she has her own "porn." She has some sin in her life that she's held on to for years, a sin that causes real hurt to others, a sin she's sorry for but can't seem to let go. Once we all realize the truth of our struggle, we will be equipped to help each other.
Conversation Starters - One mother texted me after a conversation with her son, "Thank you for having the courage to speak to the students." Her son mentioned that if there were more conversations like this, the problem would disappear in our denomination. We can only pray that continues to happen one person and one conversation at a time.
Grace Gets Through - One young man said, "No one has ever gotten through to me before
tonight. I've been addicted for seven years. What should I do next?" We praise God for speaking to one of his children in such a clear way through the Word.
One professor wrote, "Very much appreciated you coming to MLC and sharing God's Word with us. Your presentation both timely and needed. You take on a topic and temptation that is tearing at the hearts and souls of God's people...including those of us at MLC. Taking us into the Word and showing us that God loves struggling sinners and that He can help us win this battle was what we needed to hear. Your encouragement to confess to each other was also hugely helpful."
Marriages Strengthened - But this might have been my favorite text of the night: "Thanks for talking
tonight. My fianc? and I just got engaged and we were able to have a REALLY good discussion afterwards. My marriage-to-be is all the stronger and full of grace and trust b/c of your ministry. God is good! Thank you!"
To say the least, God did some amazing things this month. We at CtC hope and pray that those seeds bring back a huge harvest of honest conversations, humble confessions, and a total reliance on God's victory over sexual sin.
Thank you for your prayers!
Pastor Mike Novotny, CtC Chairman
